War with the Future
by Marcus S. Lazarus
Summary: The League are contacted by time traveller Alexander Hartdegen, who warns them that the Morlocks are coming to London...
1. Contact

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.  
  
Feedback: Please do.  
  
AN: The Time Traveller here bears little resemblance to the one in H. G. Well's book, and he, Mara, and the Morlocks are taken from the new film starring Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba and Jeremy Irons.  
  
A.L.Nowicki: Thanks for reading my first two stories; I'm glad you liked them. Oh, and Jekyll isn't the only member of the League I've done my research on: wait until you see what else I have planned for the future...  
  
War with the Future  
  
The main meeting room of the Nautilus was remarkably quiet. Normally there was at least a few crewmembers discussing where to go next on their travels, but now there was nobody.  
  
Still, it was to be expected. Only last night it had been filled to bursting point with the members of the League and the general crew. Everyone, especially Tom and Mina, had enjoyed the events, mainly because it had allowed those two to have more fun with their lips then they normally did. The relationship between the two of them was still in its early stages, but the rest of the League were all convinced it was going to last. Jekyll was still interested in Mina but he had accepted her decision to be with Sawyer, while Skinner was just being his usual joking, slightly annoying self about it. And Nemo... well, he was just being a friend about it.  
  
Then, in the centre of the room, there was a sudden shudder that shattered the peace and quiet, and a large machine appeared in the centre. It had two large glass circles at both ends, composed of several smaller glass squares on hinges. There were several circular meters gathered around a seat in the centre, the seat in itself being positioned in front of a lever and a larger meter that stretched all the way in front of the seat. The meter had several numbers on it, along with a month dial and a couple of smaller figures. There were also several variously sized boxes below the seat, and a lever with a large chunk of quartz on it was attached near the dial.  
  
The seat in question was filled by a man in about his late thirties. He was wearing brown trousers and a brown waistcoat, as well as a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and black shoes. His hair reached down to around his shoulders, and his face had several small scars on it that he appeared to have received in fights he'd had in the past.  
  
He looked around the room he was in, and smiled as he saw it.  
  
*****  
  
"Right on target," he said to himself, as he patted the machine on one of the boxes. He unscrewed the quartz lever from the machine and slipped it into his pocket, before getting off the machine and heading out into the corridors of the Nautilus.  
  
As he walked around the ship, he stared in amazement at the scene outside the portholes at the moment. The Nautilus was currently going past Portugal, and there was a wide variety of tropical fish in the area. He stared in amazement at several blue-and-yellow fish swam past the porthole, almost as though they had been dragged out of the green moss that covered all the rocks around there...  
  
"Who are you?" a voice said. Looking around, the man saw another, slightly older man standing behind him. He had reddish-brown hair and was wearing a black suit with a white shirt. He also was constantly fiddling with his pocket watch as though he just wanted to somewhere else at this precise moment.  
  
The man decided to be friendly, but not outwardly submissive; this man may be a member of the League, or he may just be one of Nemo's crew. He didn't want to look easily intimidated.  
  
"My name is Alexander Hartdegen," he said, trying to sound friendly. "I came here because I have an urgent request for help I'm here to give to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."  
  
"Oh," the man replied, putting the watch away. "Well, h-how did you get in the Nautilus? According to Nemo, we're several l-leagues under, and there's no way y-you could get down here."  
  
"Ah," Hartdegen said, as he briefly reflected on what to do here. Eventually, he decided. "Well, that's a bit of a long story. Could you fetch the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and ask them to meet in the main room? I'll explain it all there, Mr, um...?" he trailed off, looking at the man inquiringly.  
  
"Oh, it's 'Doctor' actually," the man replied, sounding a bit less nervous now. "Doctor Henry Jekyll."  
  
Hartdegen almost choked. This was the man who kept back Edward Hyde himself? This man was more than he'd thought!  
  
Then again, he supposed it should have been obvious that the man he was talking to was Jekyll. After all, all of Nemo's crew and Agent Tom Sawyer were in better physical condition then Jekyll, Captain Nemo had a beard, Rodney Skinner always wore white face paint to be seen, and Mina Harker was... well, a woman.  
  
"Oh. Um, sorry about not knowing who you were, Jekyll," he said, slightly embarrassed.  
  
"Oh, it's fine," Jekyll replied, smiling. "After all, how were you meant to know?"  
  
As Jekyll headed off to fetch the rest, Hartdegen went back into the conference room, pulled up a chair, and waited. He looked forward to answering that question of Jekyll's when the time came...  
  
*****  
  
A few minutes later, Sawyer, Nemo, Skinner, Jekyll and Mina arrived in the conference room, and were rather surprised to see the large machine that had suddenly appeared in the room.  
  
"What the heck is this?" Skinner asked, walking around the machine and occasionally tapping it in some places. He was the only one to respond; the other League members were just confused, but Skinner, ever the thief, was curious about this new thing.  
  
"'That', Mr Skinner, is my machine," a voice said. The League looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Hartdegen sitting in what, in the days before Venice, had been Dorian Gray's chair.  
  
"Who are you?" Sawyer asked.  
  
"More to the point, where are you from and how did you get in here?" Nemo asked.  
  
"Well, these are your answers in a nutshell," the man replied. "My name is Alexander Hartdegen, and I'm from America, 1901."  
  
Sawyer, Nemo and Mina looked over at each other in bafflement, while Skinner and Jekyll just looked confused.  
  
Nemo eventually broke the silence. "Excuse me, Mr Hartdegen, but the year is only 1900."  
  
"Exactly," Hartdegen said. "You see, I'm a Time Traveller."  
  
"O-kaaaaaaaaay, that was unexpected," Skinner said, as his sleeve pointed towards Hartdegen. (He was in his more customary attire of clothes but no face paint)  
  
"Is it really that odd?" Sawyer asked, looking over at his friend. "After all, nobody even knows where you are unless you're wearing clothes, Jekyll here turns into a rampaging mass of destruction just by drinking something, and Mina here can only keep going on blood. Alex here may be from the future, but at least he's normal otherwise."  
  
"Good point, well made," Skinner said, as he moved over to his chair and sat down. As he did so the rest of the League joined him, leaving Hartdegen sitting between Nemo and Jekyll, and facing Sawyer.  
  
"Well then, Alex- alright with me calling you Alex, by the way?" Sawyer asked.  
  
"Yes, it's fine," Hartdegen said.  
  
"Thanks. Anyway, Alex, what caused you to want to contact us?" Sawyer asked.  
  
"Come to that, how did you get all the way down here?" Nemo asked, looking over at Hartdegen. "From what I can see of your machine, it is incapable of movement."  
  
"It is," Hartdegen said. "The American Government owed me a few favours in the future, and I had one of their submarines help me track down where the Nautilus was at this point in time."  
  
"How?" Jekyll asked.  
  
"I knew you were located near this area, so I simply went back in time while on the submarine, looking around the immediate sea from the machine, and then going back to the future if I wasn't where you were exactly."  
  
"Complicated," Mina said. "Why were you going to that much effort to track us here specifically?"  
  
"Something is coming to this time from the future," Hartdegen explained. "Something very deadly, very strong, and out of the league of the normal law enforcement agencies. You five are the only people who can stop it."  
  
"What kind of danger are we talking about here?" Nemo asked.  
  
"They call themselves 'Morlocks'," Hartdegen explained. "In one future that I have prevented from existing, they are from the year 802 701, and were one way the evolution of humanity went after an accident when the moon fell out of orbit. One 'Uber- Morlock' controls these Morlocks, and he can somehow direct their every action with his mind. The Morlocks themselves are far more agile and resilient than normal humans, and have at least the strength of two men. They hunted the other descendants of humanity, the Eloi, who were peaceful and never did any harm to anyone. I managed to stop their evolving by stopping the accident that destroyed the moon, but some of them apparently met a version of me from another reality and managed to develop a time machine. They intend to attack Earth is this era, and have an unlimited food supply."  
  
"Of what, exactly?" Nemo inquired.  
  
"Human beings," Hartdegen said. "When the moon fell it caused several terrible earthquakes. The lack of food drove some humans to cannibalism; in their time, the Morlocks ate the Eloi they captured. With their Earth erased, they now want to feed in the past."  
  
"Ah," Skinner said, looking over at Sawyer. "What do you think, Tommy boy?"  
  
"Skinner, two things," Sawyer replied, looking over at his friend. "1; As the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, we have a responsibility to help people when they can't help themselves, so of course we'll fight these Morlocks. 2; Please don't call me Tommy boy, OK?"  
  
"Sure thing...uh...Sawyer OK?" Skinner asked, looking as sheepish as it is possible for a man to look when his expression was invisible.  
  
"It'll do," Sawyer sighed, before turning back to Hartdegen. "Alright, Mr Hartdegen. We'll help you out here. Can you tell us where the Morlocks are going to arrive in this time?"  
  
"London, almost a day from now," Hartdegen replied.  
  
Sawyer looked over at Nemo. "Can we do that?"  
  
"It will be close, but I believe it is possible," Nemo replied. "At the very least I will be able to get us close enough to the shore that Mr Hyde will be able to get us there in a few minutes... well, if he is willing," he added, glancing over at Jekyll.  
  
"Oh, he's willing," Jekyll smiled. "He always enjoys a good fight with something that will actually prove a challenge, and these Morlocks sound like just the ticket to him."  
  
"Perfect," Sawyer said, as he adopted his professional attitude and looked back at Hartdegen. "Do the Morlocks have a good sense of smell?"  
  
"Fairly good," Hartdegen said. "Their sense of sight is normally rather poor in bright light, due to their having lived underground a great deal of their lives, but the 'Uber-Morlock' has fairly normal vision."  
  
"Well, that renders Skinner practically pointless," Mina pointed out.  
  
"HEY!" Skinner yelled.  
  
"Face facts, Skinner," Mina informed him. "If these Morlocks are as good at smelling as Hartdegen says, your invisibility isn't much of an advantage."  
  
"What about that Uber-Morlock fellow?" Skinner put in.  
  
"His sense of smell is around the human-norm, as far as I can gather, but he is capable of reading your thoughts," Hartdegen put in. "You might be able to get there without him sensing you with the five senses we know of, but he could detect your mind."  
  
"Great!" Skinner groaned, slumping down into his seat. "I can attack anyone I want normally, but nooooooo, now I've been rendered practically normal as far as this fight is concerned!"  
  
"Skinner, what's the big deal? I thought you didn't really like being the hero?" Sawyer pointed out.  
  
"Well, I didn't, but it's just the kinda thing that grows on you over time, y'know?" Skinner said, looking around at his friends.  
  
"Look," Hartdegen said, facing Skinner. "My other self managed to stand against the Morlocks, and he, like me, was only human. I think you can handle yourself in a fight without your normal advantage."  
  
Skinner sighed. "I'll see what I can do."  
  
"You know, there is one point I don't really follow," Nemo put in. "How did you find out about these... Morlocks, if it was another version of you that encountered them originally?"  
  
"Oh, it's simple enough," Hartdegen explained. "A woman he'd befriended in the future, called Mara, managed to acquire his original machine- the Morlocks created their own version that could hold more people than mine- and went back in time to contact me while I was briefly visiting the year 2030. She filled me in on the Morlocks and the upcoming crisis with the moon, and the two of us managed to convince the Government of the problems."  
  
"How?" Mina asked.  
  
"We managed to acquire a camera and nipped forward in time a couple of decades to photograph the damaged moon. However, as we were coming back in the machine, we noticed the Morlock's time machine passing by us. Once I got back and we'd dropped off the photographs, Mara... vanished."  
  
"Huh?" Skinner asked.  
  
"Makes s-sense," Jekyll put in. "If you prevented the future she came from f-from ever existing, she'd automatically cease to be herself."  
  
"Think she knew that would happen?" Sawyer asked Hartdegen.  
  
"More than likely," Hartdegen replied. "Mara seemed the kind of person who'd willingly make the ultimate sacrifice if the need arose." For a moment he looked lost in his memories, but snapped out of it and got back to business. "Anyway, I got access to the Government's records, and discovered that there were reports of creatures that fitted Mara's description of the Morlocks, and what I'd seen of them, attacking London around now. I checked over the files some more, to find out what stopped them, and discovered references to you five."  
  
"Wow, we made the press?" Skinner asked.  
  
"No, just the British Secret Service files," Hartdegen replied. "It would appear that not many people heard much about you in the news; I think someone thought it would be best if the public didn't know that some of the greatest characters in fiction were real. Most witnesses of your activities were paid by the Government to not talk about you all after seeing you."  
  
"Makes sense," Sawyer said. "I mean, we may be the good guys, but there's no point in making people panic about getting attacked by Dracula or the like."  
  
"Exactly," Hartdegen explained. "Anyway, I tracked a plan of your journeys in the Nautilus, and worked out that you were somewhere around here at this time. So I had them lend me a submarine so I could track you down, and, well, the rest is easy."  
  
"Right then," Sawyer said, as he got out of the chair, along with the rest of the League. "Nemo, set a course for London. Mina, you, Skinner, and Jekyll work on your hand-to-hand combat skills. Hartdegen, you get down anything you can about the abilities of the Morlocks, and fill Nemo's crew in on them." He looked around at the rest of the League. "The fate of humanity may rest on the outcome of that fight, guys. We have to win it."  
  
The League nodded, and then all left the room, heading for the area where they should; Nemo headed to the control room, Hartdegen where he thought he'd seen the library, Sawyer the shooting range, and Mina, Jekyll and Skinner the training room. 


	2. Training

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.  
  
Feedback: Please do.  
  
War with the Future  
  
"Dammit!" Skinner cried out as he got up from the floor, nursing a sore back. "Why did Tom put us up against you?" he asked Mina, as she dusted her hands off.  
  
"Because with the strength these Morlocks possess you'll need practice against someone with similar power to do any damage, and Hyde is definitely out, since we can't be sure he won't hurt somebody," Mina explained, as she looked over at Jekyll. He was trying his best to fight without using Hyde, but he wasn't doing as good a job as he could have been.  
  
This was mainly because he wasn't much of an impressive physical specimen to start with he was getting thrown around even by Skinner, but also because he just had a fear of doing damage to his friends. At the moment he was nursing a black eye given to him by Skinner, who'd struck out a bit too hard at him when in their practice match. Besides, Skinner had gotten into a few bar fights back when he was visible, so was capable of handling himself in a fight for some time already.  
  
"Look, Jekyll, I'm not going to sustain any wounds you inflict upon me for long!" Mina informed him, as she hauled back up onto his feet. "Please, if you don't pick up you'll be useless if the Morlocks attack us in an enclosed space!"  
  
*****  
  
USELESS? Just one sip of the serum and you'd be able to stop them for good! Hyde yelled in Jekyll's head.  
  
Yes, but what if the space is so tight that it can't contain you, Edward? Jekyll asked his other self, in an exasperated tone he didn't use very often to anyone.  
  
Hyde fell silent for a few seconds before replying. What are the odds of that happening in LONDON?!  
  
It still stands, even if it's not for this fight. It can't hurt to learn now anyway.  
  
"Jekyll, are we going to get this done or what?" Mina asked.  
  
Jekyll looked over at her and nodded. "We are."  
  
"Well, here we go," Mina said, as the two of them adopted their now- familiar combat positions. (Although Jekyll still didn't look very comfortable in his.) "Now, please try to remember the following. I'm not using my full strength, so I should be at about the level of the Morlocks. Try to ignore the hair; the Morlocks don't have enough for you to use it to throw them around." Then, she lowered her head, stretched out her right arm, and lowered her head. "Now, throw me- if you can."  
  
Jekyll struck forward, trying to grab Mina's arm before she could draw back. He failed, but he did managed to get a good blow in at her mouth.  
  
She drew back, wiping it slightly. Then she looked at Jekyll, who was looking at her in a way that was partly concerned and partly terrified.  
  
"Nice job," she said, moving her jaw from side to side as she looked at him. "Powerful, fast... but you made one mistake."  
  
"W-what?" Jekyll asked.  
  
"You tried to grab my arm," Mina explained. "The Morlocks are not going to give you that chance if they fight you as yourself." She got back into her original position, and Jekyll did the same. "This time, wait for me to attack you before retaliating, all right?"  
  
Jekyll nodded. Mina crouched down, and leapt towards Jekyll.  
  
Quick as a flash, Jekyll grabbed Mina's arm and threw her round as fast as he could. To the amazement of the three people in the room, not only did he stop Mina, but he also threw her directly into the wall!  
  
After a few seconds, which were mainly occupied by Mina struggling back onto her feet, Skinner broke the silence.  
  
"HOW did you do that?!" he asked Jekyll, as he stared at his hands.  
  
"I... I think... it was... Hyde...in control... there..." Jekyll replied, as Sawyer walked into the room. He noticed Mina lying on the ground, Jekyll looking shocked, and Skinner baffled, and took all of two seconds to come up with one of his usual quick comments.  
  
"Can't anyone play nicely nowadays, children?" he asked in a mockingly feminine voice.  
  
"VERY funny, Tom," Mina said, in a mockingly cross voice. Skinner and Jekyll just smiled at each other; the League had gotten used to their little arguments. Most of them just culminated in a great deal of kissing and then retreating to some other part of the ship. Nobody was quite sure what they did there, and nobody was going to try and find out until they told them. Even Skinner would never go that far.  
  
"Hey, I just never expected you'd get thrown that far by Jekyll!" Sawyer said. He quickly glanced over at the aforementioned doctor. "No offence meant, by the way."  
  
"N-none taken," Jekyll replied.  
  
"Good," Sawyer replied, turning back to Mina. "Honestly, are you losing your touch or something?"  
  
"Do you want to see how powerful I am right now?" Mina asked in a threatening tone of voice.  
  
"Wouldn't mind it," Sawyer replied.  
  
Instantly the two of them grabbed each other, madly kissing one another as their hands freely roamed each other's bodies. Even after almost a week, they still hadn't managed to contain their emotions for too long.  
  
By the time they parted, Skinner and Jekyll had left the room to give them some much-needed privacy.  
  
"You know, we really need to remember to control ourselves," Sawyer commented to Mina.  
  
"Sorry," Mina smiled at him. However, the look of love in her eyes assured Sawyer that she wasn't. What's more, neither was he.  
  
This continued staring into each other's eyes for a few minutes until Mina broke it off.  
  
"Sorry, I almost forget. What did you want to say when you came in here originally?" she asked, slightly breathless despite not needing to breath.  
  
"Oh, just thought I'd see how things were here," Sawyer replied casually. He then lowered his voice a little, as though he didn't want anyone else to hear even though they were the only two people in the room. "Nemo's got the coordinates set, and Hartdegen's filling everyone in the crew in, so I just haven't got anything on for the next few hours, if you're interested...?"  
  
Mina grinned at him. "I wondered when we'd reach this stage," she replied, kissing him again as they began to walk out of the training room. "This is" kiss "a bit" kiss "sooner" kiss "than I" kiss "expected," kiss "but it's" kiss "fine" kiss "with me."  
  
"Same" kiss "here," Sawyer replied, as they began to make their slow way towards the nearest room; Mina's room.  
  
*****  
  
Outside the room, once again Skinner was the only witness to a pivotal moment in the relationship of Tom Sawyer and Mina Harker. As before, he was completely invisible, having backtracked from walking with Jekyll to take a peek at the make-out session. However, he wasn't going to watch the rest of this scene; there were lines he would never cross, no matter how odd he was, and that was one of them.  
  
Nodding at them, Skinner turned back, heading after Jekyll to continue their little practice battle before the fight with the Morlocks. He liked to think both of them were improving; maybe he should see about getting a new weapon... Then, a thought occurred to him.  
  
Continuing on only to get his hat and coat, he then turned around and headed back to where he thought Hartdegen should be. He had a favour to ask that man...  
  
*****  
  
The next morning, the Nautilus was only a couple of hundred miles away from London. At the Nautilus's speed, they would be there within a couple of hours, so the League were meant to be getting ready for the fight. However, after the rather hectic events of last night, only Nemo and Hartdegen were ready. Skinner and Jekyll were nursing their bruises, and Sawyer and Mina were showing no inclination to get out of their bed. At the moment they were having a little fun with some cakes Mina had found in her room from the New Year's party; she'd been in charge of the food, and hadn't found enough space on the table for everything.  
  
*****  
  
Nemo looked over at Hartdegen as the Nautilus began to rise up out of the sea as it came ever closer to London.  
  
"Are we doing well for time, Mr Hartdegen?" he asked, as he began to manoeuvre the Nautilus forward slowly; he was far enough above the water so that he could see what he was doing and he hadn't seen any ships that could have spotted him, but he still wanted to avoid any chance of an accident.  
  
"Fairly well," Hartdegen said, as he consulted a watch he had in his pocket. "The arrival of a mass of what seems to be rampaging monkeys is generally documented accurately, and the files specifically stated that the Morlocks arrived in London at two- fifteen in the afternoon."  
  
"Which gives us?" Nemo asked; he'd never seen much point in installing a clock on the control panel, given that he operated on his own timetable, but he was beginning to think about doing it after joining the League.  
  
"About four hours," Hartdegen replied, as he slipped his watch shut. "We have to move fast."  
  
"Very well," Nemo said, as he reached for the message tubes he'd installed in the League's quarters after they'd left Africa. He slipped a small note into all four, pushed a button, and all four headed straight for their destinations. "They should be here in a few minutes," he said, turning back to his driving.  
  
"You know," Hartdegen said a little later, looking over the message tubes, "if you're interested, I could nip into the future and get you a radio system for the League." "A what?" Nemo asked, puzzled. He stopped the Nautilus and turned around to face Hartdegen. "Would you care to fully explain?"  
  
"Oh, a radio system is fairly simple. It's like Bell's telephones, but it can only call a select few other radios," Hartdegen explained. "It's easy enough to install, and I'm prepared to help you out if the need arises."  
  
"Really?" Nemo said, getting interested. "You could install it by yourself? Even though it's from the future?"  
  
"Like you, my ideas were ahead of their time," Hartdegen replied. "I developed so many minor gadgets, and had theories about others, that later became widely used in the future. Radios were one of my later ideas."  
  
"Not bad, Alex m'boy," Skinner said as he walked into the control room, paint and glasses on his face and his coat and hat flapping behind him. He was followed by Jekyll, who still didn't look like an Atlas among men, but at least didn't give the impression of jumping at the sight of a mouse. Evidently, the training had done some good for him.  
  
"Ah, you're here," Nemo said, glancing over at them. "You wouldn't happen to know when Mr Sawyer and Mrs Harker are arriving?"  
  
Jekyll began to shake his head, but Skinner stopped him. "No, and I wouldn't recommend interrupting them."  
  
"Why?" Hartdegen asked.  
  
"Well, last time I saw them they were trying to eat each other's mouths and were heading towards Mina's room."  
  
"Oh," Jekyll and Nemo said simply. Hartdegen was more interested.  
  
"They're at that stage already?" he replied. "I thought they got romantically involved after this."  
  
"No record can be perfect," Nemo replied. He sighed and turned back to driving the Nautilus. "If they don't show up before we arrive at London, we'll go down and fetch them."  
  
"No need for that, Nemo," Sawyer replied, as he and Mina walked into the room. However, despite their calm appearance, both looked slightly dazed; Mina's hat was back-to-front and her dress appeared slightly disarranged, and Sawyer's coat appeared to be inside-out and his guns in their revolvers backwards. "We're here."  
  
"Good night, you two?" Skinner asked casually, a slight smile on his face.  
  
Sawyer and Mina instantly spun around to face him.  
  
"You were watching?!" Sawyer yelled, looking both enraged and embarrassed.  
  
"I thought I smelt something odd!" Mina said, sounding slightly relieved that she hadn't been wrong.  
  
"No, I wasn't watching you when you... y'know..." Skinner said, for once actually looking sheepish at the subject of sex. "I just saw you start to head towards Mina's room, and figured I'd just leave you to it."  
  
"Oh. Well, that's fine than," Sawyer said, as he and Mina relaxed.  
  
Jekyll looked over at Hartdegen. "S-sorry you've been introduced to some of our worse aspects already, Mr Hartdegen," he said.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it, Doctor," Hartdegen replied, smiling. "I've read everything about you that I could find. I'd already gathered that Skinner was never the easiest man to get along with."  
  
"Yes, well, never mind about that now," Sawyer said, as the Nautilus began to pull into the London pier. "We'd better get going, we've only got..." he glanced over at Hartdegen. "How long?"  
  
"Three hours and forty-five minutes," Hartdegen replied.  
  
"Exactly. We have that long to prepare for battle, so let's rock!" Sawyer said, as the League headed towards the Nautilus's main door, followed by Hartdegen. 


	3. Preparing to Attack

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.  
  
Feedback: Please do.  
  
War with the Future  
  
As the League arrived at the door, a thought occurred to Sawyer.  
  
"Nemo, do you have a spare automobile we can use, or was that one we lost in Venice it?"  
  
"It was all I had, Mr Sawyer," Nemo replied. "I've had a few friends gathering the parts for it together, but there's a long way to go before it's finished."  
  
"Ah," Sawyer said, sighing a little.  
  
"So, basically, our fastest means of transportation is Hyde?" Skinner asked.  
  
"Or me," Mina put in.  
  
"Yeah, but I don't think you'll be able to take all of us, Mrs Harker," Skinner pointed out.  
  
"She can still see about tracking down where the Morlocks arrived in our time," Sawyer pointed out.  
  
"Oh, no need," Hartdegen smiled. "It was in Piccadilly Circus. They thought it would provide an ample feeding ground for them to start, but apart from you five there was nobody in it."  
  
"Really?" Nemo asked. "Why was that? We don't report to any branch of any government; it's unlikely we'd be able to persuade them to evacuate Piccadilly in time."  
  
"You didn't," Hartdegen explained. "Hyde dived off the rooftops directly into Piccadilly, surrounded by bats and with two guns waving themselves around on his back, and he chased everyone out just before he tore the roads up and blocked off every possible entrance."  
  
"Oh," Jekyll said. "Well, that would work."  
  
"The question is, will Hyde be willing to do it?" Mina said, glancing over at Jekyll.  
  
*****  
  
Jekyll reached into his mind. Edward? Will you be prepared to do that?  
  
Of course, Henry, Hyde replied. If for no other reason than to ensure you don't distract me by asking me not to hit innocents while I'm fighting.  
  
Good point, Jekyll replied, before looking back at the League. "He'll do it."  
  
"Perfect," Sawyer said, as he pulled out his guns and checked them as he issued instructions while walking out the door. "Jekyll, you and Hartdegen are with Mina and I, we'll check out the situation in Piccadilly, see if we can work out where the Morlocks are likely to appear and pick a good location for Hyde and the bats to drop in from. If nothing else, at least knowing where they'll show up lets us know where to hit. Nemo, you and Skinner gather some weapons; you'll need them."  
  
"I don't like having to use guns, Mr. Sawyer," Nemo said, looking over at his friend. "I have always preferred close combat personally."  
  
"I know. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to use them if you don't want to, just use them if you have to, OK?" Sawyer said, as he slipped his guns back into his holsters.  
  
"Very well," Nemo said, as he and Skinner headed back into the Nautilus, and Sawyer, Mina, Jekyll and Hartdegen headed for the streets of London. In a few seconds, the four of them were lost in the crowds of London.  
  
*****  
  
"Well, it's certainly... busier than I remember," Jekyll said, looking around himself at the crowds in London. He briefly thought about dropping in on Poole and Utterson once the Morlocks had been stopped, but decided against it; better for the moment if they believed him to be dead.  
  
"Maybe because you mostly came out at night?" Sawyer pointed out. "From what I've read, after you became the original Hyde you only came out of your house as him and spent your time as Jekyll in your rooms."  
  
"Good point," Jekyll nodded, as he nodded at a passing businessman.  
  
"Well, let's get going to Piccadilly," Sawyer said, as he pulled his coat around him in a vain attempt to keep out the cold wind that was blowing. He glanced over at Mina. "Can your bats fly in these conditions?"  
  
"Sawyer, if I can last against two immortals, each of which had a definite advantage over me in either experience or endurance, I think I can handle a little wind," Mina smiled at her lover.  
  
"Great point," Sawyer replied. "Just don't want to run the risk of your bats scratching Hyde with their teeth; I don't think a vampire version of him would be any nicer than the normal one."  
  
"Probably worse," Jekyll put in. "Even he's frightened of needing to drink human blood to survive; he'd hardly be able to go unnoticed if he did that. He's too large to need a normal amount of people to survive; he'd probably kill at least three people a night, he thinks Even on his worse days before the League he only killed one a night."  
  
"You know, I don't quite understand that," Hartdegen said, looking over at the scientist. "How can you hear what Hyde's saying when you and him are two separate people?"  
  
"We're not," Jekyll replied. "He is me, it's just he's a different aspect of me. The serum just lets a different one of us be in control; otherwise, the other one is just heard in the back of our head."  
  
"Ah," Hartdegen said, turning that over in his head. It reminded him of what he'd heard of people with multiple personality problems, except that in those cases the sufferer didn't turn into their other self.  
  
"We're here," Sawyer said, suddenly stopping. Looking around, Mina, Jekyll and Hartdegen saw he was right; in only a few minutes, they'd managed to get straight to Piccadilly in a matter of minutes.  
  
"I looked over the maps of the city in order to know the best routes when tracking the Fantom," Sawyer explained, responding to the other's baffled looks. "By the way, there's an empty house on that side of the fountain; we can use it to get in before the entrance of the Morlocks."  
  
"Not bad, Sawyer," Hartdegen said, nodding at his new friend before examining in the indicated building. It was very high, reaching to five stories above the ground. Plus there was a large hole in one wall on the fourth floor already, limiting the chances of there being any debris to injure innocent people. "Yes, that seems a good place to position ourselves. Good view, plenty of space, and high enough up so that nobody will hear Doctor Jekyll turning into Hyde when he drinks his serum."  
  
"Right," Mina said, as she flexed her fingers briefly. "So, we work out where the Morlocks are going to appear, then what? Just wait for Nemo and Skinner to show up before going up there?"  
  
"Maybe," Sawyer said. "What other option is there?"  
  
Mina looked ready to retaliate, but then something seemed to occur to her. She smiled.  
  
"I can't think of anything off the top of my head, so let's just forget I ever spoke," she said simply, smiling in a disarming manner at Sawyer.  
  
"Agreed!" Sawyer smiled, kissing her briefly on the lips before they split up and began to look around Piccadilly for a likely Morlock arrival-point.  
  
*****  
  
Grabbing one likely looking weapon from the armoury, Skinner turned to Nemo with the weapon in his right hand.  
  
"What's this exactly?" he asked, as he held it up to his eye and looked through the targeting scope.  
  
"I call it a machine-gun, Mr Skinner," Nemo explained, as he slipped a few pistols into his pockets. "It fires off several bullets all at once, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to advance any distance towards you at all." He sighed as he checked his bullet supply. "I wish it was unnecessary for me to have invented this gun, but, since it is, we might as well use it."  
  
"Agreed," Skinner said, as he handed Nemo the gun. They'd laid out a bag for the weapons to be put in, and so far they'd already got in seven extremely large guns. Sawyer was going to have a field day when they got there. Meanwhile, Nemo had picked up a few extra swords, as well as two small daggers; he was prepared to battle the Morlocks, but he would not use a gun unless he had exhausted all his other options.  
  
"Skinner?" Nemo asked, looking up at his friend after putting the gun away. "Have you got any weapons for yourself yet?"  
  
"Oh, I've got a few things in my coat pockets, Nemo my man," Skinner replied, patting his pocket and smiling through his grease paint. "Don't worry about me; I'll be fine."  
  
"Good," Nemo said, as he picked up the bag and shut it. "Well, I believe we have enough weaponry now; it's unlikely the Morlocks will have any weapons of their own, so we don't need that much."  
  
"Great! Well, let's roll," Skinner smiled, as the two of them left the Nautilus. Nemo had left orders with his crew that, in the event of the League failing to show up after three o'clock or fire a flare up into the air by that point, the crew were to leave London and alert the world to the existence of the Morlocks. Therefore, their only real time limit was to stop the Morlocks within about forty-five minutes after their arrival, or at least be close enough to stopping them for it not to matter.  
  
"Here goes nothing," Skinner said, as they began to walk. They had only an hour and a half to get to Piccadilly before the Morlocks, and they didn't even know how much power the Morlocks had behind them.  
  
Well, it wasn't like they hadn't been in that sort of situation before.  
  
*****  
  
"Ah, there you two are!" Sawyer smiled, as the distinctive appearances of Nemo and Skinner appeared in Piccadilly. He was relieved to see them; they only had about half an hour before the Morlocks showed up, and they still hadn't worked out their arrival point. On the plus side, Hartdegen and Jekyll were already waiting for them to appear in the building they'd chosen, so at least some of them were ready.  
  
"Sorry," Nemo said to his friend. "Skinner said that, since he knew London better than I, he should lead the way to Piccadilly. I followed him, mainly to stop him going on all the time, but he kept on making little detours and I had to drag him away."  
  
"Hey, can you blame me if I saw a few nice things while I was walking?" Skinner protested.  
  
"Skinner, you are not a thief anymore. You are a man on whom the fate of the world may one day rest. Stop getting attracted to bright shiny things, OK?" Sawyer said, sounding almost threatening.  
  
"Check," Skinner squeaked, he didn't feel like arguing with a man with several guns on his person. "I'll put it on my To Do list when I get back. In the meantime, how're things down here?"  
  
"Mina's just trying to work out where the Morlocks are going to arrive, and Hartdegen and Jekyll are waiting for their cue to begin."  
  
"Well, I think it would be best if we joined them," Nemo said, as Skinner took the bag of guns from his friend. "After all, there's nothing we can do down here, is there?"  
  
"No, I guess not," Sawyer said, as he briefly took the bag from Skinner and looked inside it before passing it back. "Good job, by the way. Looks like you've got enough bullets there to stop Hyde."  
  
"Don't know about that, but it's definitely enough to stop something big," Skinner said, as he took the bag back. "Well, let's get going."  
  
"Don't forget to arm Hartdegen," Sawyer said, before they started walking. "He hasn't asked for anything, but he'll probably need it before too long."  
  
"I'll remember that," Nemo said, as he and Skinner began to walk.  
  
"The closed building with the hole in the wall's the one you want," Sawyer called after them before they vanished into the crowd.  
  
*****  
  
"The others?" Mina said from behind Sawyer.  
  
"Exactly," he replied, turning around and pecking her on the lips again. "Found something?"  
  
"I believe I have," Mina replied, smiling in that manner that always made Sawyer go weak at the knees. "I think they'll appear directly in the cross- section of those three streets; knowing what Hartdegen has told us of the Uber-Morlock, he'll probably want an overly dramatic arrival, and there would allow him to make an impressive appearance."  
  
"Makes sense," Sawyer said. "Looks like some things about villains never change; no matter how far into the future you go, they'll always have a large ego."  
  
"True," Mina sighed. "Well, let's get going up to the others. We've got everything we need to know now, and they'll need all of us up there."  
  
"Very well," Mina said, as the two of them headed towards the aforementioned building.  
  
*****  
  
Twenty minutes later, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were sitting with Hartdegen in the building. They'd got themselves positioned in the room with the hole in one wall, but were currently just waiting at the sides of the room to allow Hyde enough room when Jekyll drank his serum.  
  
Skinner had passed his coat and hat along to Sawyer, saying he wanted to be sure they'd be safe until he got them back on, and Jekyll was fingering his serum as he waited for his cue. Nemo had already handed out the weapons; Hartdegen was holding two machine-guns, Sawyer had a few smaller pistols in addition to his normal Winchester and six-shooters, and Skinner had taken the two that were left.  
  
"You are sure this'll work?" Hartdegen asked, looking over at Sawyer.  
  
"Not as sure as I'd like, but what alternative is there?" Sawyer replied. The plan was that, after Hyde had blocked Piccadilly off, Mina's bats would carry the other three down to the ground, and then position themselves around the tops of the piles of rubble to both keep people out and keep the Morlocks in. Mina wasn't sure if that would work during the day (Her powers as a vampire were diminished when the sun was up), but she was prepared to risk it.  
  
Hartdegen pulled out his watch and flicked it open. Skinner, who was sitting nearest to him, noticed an inscription on the inner face of the watch, but no sooner had he read it (TO ALEXANDER, FOREVER. EMMA.), then Hartdegen snapped it shut. "It's time, Doctor," he said to Jekyll.  
  
"V-very well," Jekyll replied, as he pulled the top off his serum and swallowed it. He got up and moved into the centre of the room just before his muscles began to bulge out at an unbelievable rate. His shoulders burst through his shirt to above his head, his head grew thinner as his hair receded, and his arms almost trebled in size. Within only a minute or so, Edward Hyde was ready to battle.  
  
"Are you two ready?" he asked, looking over at Mina and Skinner.  
  
"As we'll ever be," Mina said, as she got up and closed her eyes. Instantly her body vanished, to be replaced by several black bats. As they flapped around Hyde, the guns that showed the location of Skinner got up and flew through the air before landing on Hyde's back. Hyde briefly winced as something knocked his head slightly.  
  
"Skinner, if you're going to be taking a lift on me you'll keep your feet away!" Hyde yelled up at the guns.  
  
"Sorry, Eddie," Skinner said, sounding at least a little apologetic as the bats began to gather around him and Hyde. "Well, let's go!" he said, pointing one of the guns forward.  
  
"Agreed," Hyde replied, as he leapt out of the building in one bound, the bats flapping around his shoulders.  
  
*****  
  
As soon as they heard the crash that had to be from Hyde landing, Sawyer, Nemo and Hartdegen looked out of the building at the sight below them. Hyde, true to form, was making everyone run away simply by walking towards them, while Mina's bats were dive-bombing the stragglers or anyone who looked like standing up to Hyde, no matter how impossible it was that they'd do anything. And as for Skinner, he mostly just took a couple of shots at the heels of some of the other stragglers, managing to get though the entire incident without wounding anybody.  
  
After only a few minutes, Piccadilly Circus was devoid of civilians. As the bats and the guns kept everyone back, Hyde shoved his hands into the streets and pushed forward, churning up all kinds of rubble. In only a few seconds, the street had a large ditch running down the centre, and the former contents of the streets were piled up at the entrances to Piccadilly. After only about two more minutes, every street was blocked off and the League were alone in the Circus.  
  
Looking over the building, Skinner saw that Sawyer, Nemo and Hartdegen were getting down from the building easily enough in the quickest way; they were using the hooked rope that Sawyer had taken while hunting Dracula and were abseiling down the side of the wall, Sawyer at the bottom and Hartdegen at the top.  
  
As Hartdegen's feet touched the ground, he flicked the rope and pulled the hook off the wall. Catching it as it fell, he slipped off his waistcoat, wound the rope around his shoulder, and then slipped his waistcoat on over it.  
  
*****  
  
"Well, that went well," Skinner said, as he jumped off Hyde's back and took his coat and hat back from Sawyer. As he shrugged them on he put his guns into his pockets, but Nemo noted that he seemed to briefly check on something in one of his inside pockets.  
  
"True enough," Sawyer said, as he pulled out his pistols before glancing over at Hartdegen. "Do we conceal ourselves and attack when the Morlocks come out, or just wait here and shoot when they show up?"  
  
"The second one, I think," Hartdegen replied. "They won't be expecting us to be waiting for them when they arrive, and besides, if we can blow up their machine when it arrives we should be able to take them out pretty quickly."  
  
"Right then," Sawyer said as he pulled his rifle off his back and loaded it. "You're sure it'll be over there?" he asked Mina, as he indicated the cross-section of the streets. Hyde may have turned the roads into large ditches, but there were still a few flat spaces where the Morlock's time machine could rest.  
  
"All the evidence points that way."  
  
"Then let's get organised," Sawyer said. As soon as he said that, the League began to dash into certain positions. Hyde and Mina stood at either side of the cross-section of the streets, taking up a combat stance as soon as they were ready; Hartdegen and Sawyer stood beside the fountain in the centre of Piccadilly, aiming their guns directly between Hyde and Mina, and Skinner and Nemo were directly opposite them, Skinner with his guns drawn.  
  
"Everyone comfy?" Sawyer asked, looking down his rifle with his finger twitching over the trigger. The League nodded at him, and visibly tensed up.  
  
*****  
  
Hartdegen only then acknowledging something he hadn't really been paying attention to, being more worried about organising for the Morlock attack. Sawyer was the youngest member of the whole League, and yet they still obeyed his orders without question. He made a mental note to ask about that if he got the chance, but before he could go any further on that line of thought the distortion that he knew showed the arrival of a time machine began to appear in the centre of the League.  
  
"Here goes nothing," Skinner said, as he cocked his guns and aimed them in front of him.  
  
"Remember, I shoot first!" Sawyer called over at his friend...  
  
...Just as the Morlock's time machine appeared. 


	4. The Present vs the Future

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.  
  
Feedback: Please do.  
  
War with the Future  
  
Hartdegen noted that this machine was far larger than his in more ways than one. Not only was there the most obvious difference that the glass circles now reached out so far in all directions that they could have covered some smaller houses, there was also a far larger combination of components in the centre of the machine.  
  
The main machine itself was surrounded by several seats, approximately thirty overall, and each one was holding what looked exactly like Mara's description of a Morlock. Each creature was a dirty brownish-yellowy colour, were very muscular and were wearing outfits that resembled an ancient Aztec outfit, but less colourful. Their faces also resembled some of the old statues that was seen in some temples, with thin scraggly hair hanging down to around their shoulders. Their eyes weren't very large, but they had nostrils that were almost the size of a thumb.  
  
At the top of the time machine was a far different figure from the others. His skin was a colour that could best be described as moonlight blue, and his hair was white and far thicker than the other Morlocks. He was wearing a similar outfit to the others, but his didn't cover his chest and it was black. His face was also far less remarkable than the other Morlocks; in fact, baring the colour, it was a normal human face. However, from where Skinner and Nemo were sitting, they would see that his back looked far less normal; his spine bones were sticking out of his back, and there was a large pink mass running down his back that looked remarkably like a brain.  
  
*****  
  
However, the League had only a few seconds to take all that in before Sawyer fired both bullets in his rifle at their time machine. The bullets shattered one of the glass plates in front of the machine to smithereens before they struck the machine itself.  
  
The Morlocks looked down at the machine as it began to make a rapidly rising whistle-like noise. They didn't possess the greatest intellects on the planet, but even they knew when something was going to explode. They leapt off the machine at once...  
  
Just as it blew up.  
  
It wasn't an especially large explosion; the Morlocks all around it and the intact glass plates managed to absorb most of the explosion, especially given that the plates were especially strong ones. However, that didn't prevent a large amount of damage being done; although the majority of the Morlocks and the glass plates just hit the ground, some of them flew directly into the nearby buildings and were instantly knocked out by the stone walls. Sawyer estimated about five or six of them were down, leaving them only twenty-five to stop, including the Uber-Morlock.  
  
As the Morlocks began to pick themselves up, the Uber-Morlock stepped up himself. Somehow he'd managed to land directly on his feet despite the explosion sending him far up into the air and his hair having been badly burned.  
  
He looked over at Hartdegen and Sawyer, and cocked one quizzical eyebrow.  
  
"Ah," he said, smiling a sick-looking grin at Hartdegen. "So you still live, Alexander."  
  
"You don't get rid of me that easily," Hartdegen said, cocking his pistol at the Uber-Morlock. "I cannot allow you to spread across the world."  
  
"Oh, and why not?" the Uber-Morlock replied, walking slowly towards Hartdegen. "After all, the fact that we're here even after you wiped our reality out shows that there isn't only one history. What's to say that yours won't be there when you go back?"  
  
"That doesn't matter," Hartdegen stated simply. "You'll be here in one reality, and I cannot allow that."  
  
"Oh, and you believe that these...people...can stop us?" the Uber-Morlock asked, indicating the League.  
  
Sawyer cocked his pistols and aimed them at the Uber-Morlock. "Those people, for your information, are the ones who have a bullet pointed at what is at least a part of your brain."  
  
"Really?" the Uber-Morlock said, looking over at Sawyer. "I'm not very impressed, if you're the best the past has to offer."  
  
"OK, I've just about had it with this jerk!" Sawyer said, as he fired two bullets at the Uber-Morlock. The blue figure tried to dodge them, but all he managed to do was take them both in his left arm.  
  
As the Uber-Morlock fell, briefly stunned by the shock of the bullets, Sawyer raised one hand. "League, ATTACK!" he yelled, as he bought it down in a chopping movement.  
  
Instantly the League and Hartdegen leapt onto the recovering Morlocks.  
  
*****  
  
Quickly, Sawyer's eyes skimmed over the situation in front of him. Nemo had somehow found himself fighting trying to fight at least three Morlocks at once, but he appeared to be handling himself; two of the Morlocks were being kept back by two of Nemo's swords, and he occasionally swapped hands to strike at the third. It was evident that Sawyer wouldn't be needed there just yet.  
  
Skinner and Hartdegen, although not doing as good as Nemo, were still managing to hold their own against the Morlocks. Skinner in particular had managed to get in a few good shots; he'd downed at least two Morlocks already, from what Sawyer could see. Hartdegen had managed to shoot three of them directly in the head, and was even now reloading his guns while Skinner provided cover.  
  
Hyde and Mina were doing especially well. Hyde currently had at least five Morlocks on him trying to bring him down, and he was resorting to some rather unusual methods to get them off; currently he had torn one of them off and was waving it around like a large stick to beat the rest of them off. Mina was moving like a ferocious machine, using the sword that Nemo had given her for Christmas in a massive sweep. Already three Morlocks were lying on the ground with some parts of their bodies in a separate place, and a fourth was staggering around with only his right arm.  
  
Scanning the area, Sawyer noticed three Morlocks that were heading for one of the barriers Hyde and Mina had set up. Mina's bats looked fairly active, but Sawyer got the impression that they wouldn't be attacking the Morlocks any time soon.  
  
So it was all down to him. Quickly he drew his pistols and aimed them at their retreating backs. It may have gone against everything he believed in to shoot a running foe, but these things weren't even human; they were monsters, and he had to stop them.  
  
He waited, as he mentally allowed for wind currents and other things. Then, once they were in his mind, he attempted to do as Quartermain had told him and feel the shots.  
  
He felt them.  
  
He fired one bullet from each gun, followed by a third from the right one.  
  
All three Morlocks fell to the ground at once, blood leaking from their backs. No sooner had the bang they had caused faded from Sawyer's ears then he heard a low growl behind him. Spinning around, he saw a fourth Morlock, looking ready to jump right onto him.  
  
And no chance of getting in a shot in time, Sawyer thought, as the Morlock leapt forward, arms outstretched. Acting on pure reflex, Sawyer dropped his guns, grabbed the Morlock's outstretched right arm, and hurled him over his head, ducking and grabbing a nearby rock that was jutting out to prevent himself being dragged along as well.  
  
The attempt was only partly successful; he did avoid getting yanked along as well, but the Morlock was still conscious and he'd cut himself on one hand. Fortunately, it wasn't his shooting hand, but it still would restrict what he could do in a fight. Therefore, it was in his best interest to end this fight before it could really start. Quickly grabbing his left gun from where it had fallen, Sawyer fired one bullet directly at the Morlock's head. It was done instantly.  
  
*****  
  
As he launched off three bullets at a Morlock, Hartdegen took the time to briefly check out the situation with the rest of the League. Sawyer, from what he could see, had already managed to take down four Morlocks and was scouting around for his fifth one. Nemo had killed his first three opponents and was already stabbing another two with his swords. Mina and Hyde had taken down about ten Morlocks between them both. Skinner, on the other hand, wasn't coping too well; he'd only killed about one Morlock so far, and was having trouble with another even as Hartdegen was looking at him.  
  
"Skinner!" he yelled over at his unusual friend as the Morlock knocked him over. "Use the serum I gave you!"  
  
Skinner looked back at him (At least, his hat rotated to face him) and nodded. "Check!" he yelled, as he shoved the Morlock back with all his might before he reached inside his coat and pulled out a small needle. Yanking his coat off and tearing his hat away from his head, Skinner plunged the needle into his arm and injected it.  
  
No sooner had he done that then something changed. Only a few seconds ago a Morlock had been getting back up to attack him, but now it seemed incapable of even smelling him. After only a second the Morlock suddenly found itself with a large piece of loose masonry in its left eye, sticking in so far that it was definitely lodged in the Morlock's brain. The Morlock gagged briefly, and then collapsed.  
  
It worked! Hartdegen smiled to himself as he fired his gun at another oncoming Morlock. He quickly ran over how many were down now; out of the original thirty normal Morlocks, the League and him had managed to kill twenty-two of them, not counting the six that had died in the explosion of their time machine. That left about two normal Morlocks... No, Skinner and I have just killed the last two, he thought... and the Uber Morlock.  
  
"Exactly, Alexander," a cold voice said from behind him.  
  
Looking behind him, Hartdegen saw the Uber-Morlock standing behind him. His left arm didn't look like it was going to be much use in a fight, with Sawyer's bullets still being lodged in the upper part of it. However, he still generated the appearance of being able to overpower Hartdegen in a fight.  
  
"YOU!" Hartdegen suddenly heard Hyde yell. Glancing over at the large man, he saw that the League (Well, the visible ones, at least) had all spun around to face the Uber-Morlock, with the other Morlocks all lying around in various interesting methods of death.  
  
"I would advise you all to stop right there," the Uber-Morlock said, looking around at the League. "I am only interested in fighting Alexander. The rest of you are not my concern."  
  
"Well, too bad. You're ours," Sawyer said, drawing his Winchester and slipping a couple of cartridges into it before he pointed it at the Uber- Morlock. At the same time Hyde and Mina tensed themselves to spring, and Nemo looked ready to run towards the monster himself.  
  
The Uber-Morlock just looked around at them all and sighed in an exasperated manner. Then he raised his arms out in front him, palms in front, and whisked them through the air. Instantly the League froze in their current positions, only their faces remaining mobile.  
  
"What the...?" Hyde grunted, visibly straining to move.  
  
"I have temporarily paralyzed the parts of your brain responsible for movement," the Uber-Morlock explained, as he turned back to face Hartdegen. "This is between me and Alexander."  
  
"And that's the way it will end," Hartdegen said, as he threw his gun aside.  
  
"Hartdegen, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Hyde yelled over at the man. "There is no time to be fair, this nut's too powerful for you by yourself!"  
  
"I can't, Hyde," Hartdegen said, facing the blue figure in front of him. "I want the pleasure of stopping him close up."  
  
"Really? And I thought you were opposed to murder," the Uber- Morlock replied with a smirk.  
  
"You can only murder a human being," Hartdegen replied. "You're not even close to human. You're just pure evil." He took up a combat stance, one arm outstretched in front of him. Then, he rotated the hand so that the palm was facing upwards, and beckoned with all four fingers. "Bring it on."  
  
Roaring, the Uber-Morlock charged towards Hartdegen, launching a powerful punch at his head. Desperately, Hartdegen ducked underneath the blow before striking at the Uber-Morlock's chest with a powerful punch that would winded most normal men. For the Uber-Morlock, however, all it did was briefly daze him, and when he recovered he was even more angry.  
  
"That wasn't much, Alexander," he said, looking at Hartdegen from where he stood; Hartdegen had moved over to beside Nemo, and had taken Nemo's swords from the scientist's hands.  
  
"Well, I'm still getting warmed up," Hartdegen said, fitting one sword comfortably in his right hand before throwing the second over at the Uber- Morlock. "Interested in trying your luck with these?"  
  
The Uber-Morlock caught it and grinned. "Very well, Alexander," he said, as he stuck the sword out in front of him and quickly advanced on Hartdegen. "I should mention, though, that I am capable of reading any information I want about sword fighting from the mind of Captain Nemo." With that, he struck forward with one powerful swipe, but Hartdegen managed to parry it so that it only cut him slightly above his left eye.  
  
"Oh, I guessed that," Hartdegen smiled, as he swung his arms around in a circle that ended with his sword aiming at the Uber-Morlock's throat. "But you still can't predict what moves I'll make; I'm betting you can't read a mind in a moving body, or you'd be unstoppable. Besides, you've forgotten the basic rule of sword-fighting."  
  
"Which is?" the Uber-Morlock asked, as he struck the sword away and leapt a foot or so back.  
  
"Never fear the most experienced swordsman," Hartdegen said, as he struck forward with a blow that was barely parried, "but the least," he continued, as he knocked the sword back with a blow to the Uber-Morlock's wrist that made him drop, "because he will be unpredictable," Hartdegen finished, as he slashed the Uber-Morlock across the chest. As the Uber-Morlock fell, Hartdegen once again had his sword pressed against his throat. "See what I mean?"  
  
"Yes," the Uber-Morlock said simply, as he looked down at the blade. Then, he grinned. "But you should never pause." With that he grabbed the sword and yanked it directly out of Hartdegen's hand. At the same time he kicked Hartdegen in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. Before Hartdegen could get back up the Uber-Morlock's foot was on his chest, the sword he'd taken pointing at Hartdegen's throat. Hartdegen looked up at the Uber-Morlock, and then, to the surprise of the Uber-Morlock, he grinned.  
  
*****  
  
"What's the joke?" the Uber-Morlock asked. "I have all your friends paralyzed and you will soon be dead. Do you really think you can survive?"  
  
"Actually, I'm betting good money on it," Hartdegen said, blinking back the blood that had leaked into one eye. "Look behind you."  
  
The Uber-Morlock did so, and saw to his horror one of Sawyer's pistols floating in the air and pointing directly at him.  
  
"What?! But none of you have psychic powers!" he yelled, as gun the targeted him.  
  
"We don't," a voice said from near the gun. "I'm just invisible. Rodney Skinner, former Gentlemen Thief, at your service." The voice suddenly became even harder. "Now die."  
  
And the gun fired.  
  
Before the Uber-Morlock could move, the bullet had struck him in the forehead. He may have had a brain that spread all the way across his back, but it still needed to be completely there for him to live.  
  
His evil, at last, was ended. 


	5. An Offical League?

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.  
  
Feedback: Please do.  
  
War with the Future  
  
As the Uber-Morlock fell to the ground, his head still with a smoking hole in its centre from the bullet, Hartdegen got to his feet and looked over at where the pistol was floating.  
  
"Thanks, Skinner," he said, nodding at his friend.  
  
"No, Alex m'boy. Thank you," Skinner said, as he apparently blew out the smoke on the end of the gun before turning to the rest of the League. With the death of the Uber-Morlock they were now all mobile, but looking very confused.  
  
It was Mina who voiced the question on all their minds. "Skinner, how come you weren't immobilised?"  
  
"Oh, simple enough Mrs Harker," Skinner replied, sounding like he was smiling. Before explaining he picked up his discarded hat and coat and put them back on, and began to reapply his grease paint as he explained. "See, it occurred to me that, with my invisibility not being much use against these Morlocks, I might as well pick up an extra, but temporary, asset for fighting them. So I asked Hartdegen to help me out, and he nipped into the future and picked up a little something."  
  
"Yes, a rare chemical developed by the criminal underworld of that era," Hartdegen said, picking up the story from Skinner. "Due to the increase in superhumans like yourselves fighting crime, and with some of those being capable of reading, some criminal scientists developed a drug that would amplify people's thought waves- or some other complicated term- to a degree where telepaths couldn't pick them up. It also prevents people giving off any normal smell for a certain time."  
  
"Not bad," Sawyer said, as Skinner finished applying his grease paint and grinned at them all. "It is only temporary, right?" he asked Hartdegen.  
  
"Yes," Hartdegen replied. "I figured Skinner wouldn't want to be that abnormal permanently, so I got the weaker version of the drug." Then, Hartdegen sighed a little. "Well, I suppose it's time I was off."  
  
"'Off'?" Hyde asked.  
  
"Well, I was only here to make sure the Morlocks were stopped," Hartdegen explained. "With them gone, why should I stick around?"  
  
"Well, maybe because you were now a member of our little group?" Skinner asked, grinning.  
  
Hartdegen was momentarily taken aback. "Me? You want me to join you?"  
  
"Well, I think you'd be a good addition," Skinner said, looking at the others. "You guys?"  
  
"Agreed," Sawyer and Mina said simultaneously.  
  
"I like it," Hyde put in.  
  
"I can see no reason why not," Nemo stated.  
  
Hartdegen still couldn't believe it. "But... why me? I don't exactly fit among the categories of the rest of you."  
  
"That's not true at all," Sawyer said, taking over the conversation. "The way I see it, you do come under the classification of Nemo's kind of extraordinary; how many people have built a time machine in this era? I can think of all kinds of ways that'll be able to help us!"  
  
"Yeah!" Skinner said. "The stuff you can pick up in the future, the advance warnings you can give us advance warnings of problems, and you can find all kinds of useful stuff about the origins of some foes... The list is endless!"  
  
"Exactly," Sawyer said, grinning at Hartdegen as he put his left arm around Mina. "You interested?"  
  
"Count me in!" Hartdegen said, grinning as he held out his hand.  
  
Sawyer took it in his and shook. "Welcome to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alexander Hartdegen."  
  
"Glad to be here, Tom Sawyer," Hartdegen replied, as the other League members gathered around him, offering their hands as well.  
  
After Hartdegen had shaken the hands of the League, they returned to the issue of getting Piccadilly back to normal. It was easy enough; all they needed to do was have Mina push all the dirt back into the hollows left by what Hyde had pushed up. Then, while she moved onto the next, Hyde stamped the roads back into a close approximation of their original shape, while Sawyer, Nemo, Hartdegen and Skinner dealt with any civilians who'd come along. Fortunately, that didn't number a great deal of people; evidently Hyde had scared people so much that they'd just all decided to run and contact somebody in authority.  
  
Eventually everything was straightened out and the Circus was back to normal. When everyone returned to Piccadilly, worried if the creature that had driven them out would still be there, only to find that, baring a few bits of rubble lying around here and there, it was empty. Of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the Morlocks, there was no sign...  
  
*****  
  
Hartdegen winced from the pain as he briefly fingered the cut above his left eye the Uber-Morlock had left. Jekyll had done his best to stitch it up, but it hadn't been a very thorough job. Still, Hartdegen didn't blame him for it; there'd be another chance back at the Nautilus.  
  
He glanced over at Mr Hyde, who'd been landed with the job of carrying the Morlocks back to the Nautilus so they could dispose of their bodies at the bottom of the ocean. They didn't want any bodies of possible future humans lying around where anyone could find them, and Nemo's usual kind of burial seemed the perfect choice. Still, he didn't mind admitting that the whole fight had been a close call for the League. He was the only member who had any cuts, but the rest of the League had several various bruises and twinges. Skinner in particular wasn't feeling too good; he said it felt like something in the drug hadn't gone down well with him.  
  
****  
  
As they approached the Nautilus, Sawyer noticed a remarkably obese man standing in front of the entrance. He was wearing a suit that reminded Hartdegen of a Parliament minister, expect it was darker and appeared to have something in one pocket. He was holding a black stick with a silver handle in one hand, and smiled upon seeing the League arrive.  
  
"Ah, you're back," he said, smiling at them and holding his hand out to Sawyer, who was leading the League. "I've been waiting for you."  
  
"And you are?" Sawyer asked, not shaking the outstretched hand just yet.  
  
"I am employed by the British Government," the man explained. "I understand you have encountered a man who was acquainted with my brother."  
  
"Was he acquainted with this brother of yours in a friendly or a hostile manner?" Mina asked. Sawyer saw her point; the only people all the League had met were those who were trying to kill them, and they'd rather not anger a friend of someone they'd killed.  
  
"A hostile manner," the man replied assuringly. "The man was Professor James Moriarty. I am Mycroft Holmes, bother of Sherlock Holmes."  
  
Sawyer almost choked. This man was the brother of the world's greatest detective?! He hadn't been expecting that!  
  
"Uh, nice to meet you, I guess," he said, finally shaking the offered hand. "I'm assuming you know who we are?"  
  
"Yes, I believe so. You are Special Agent Tom Sawyer of the American Secret Service, the bearded man is Captain Nemo of India, the large man is Mr Edward Hyde, the alter ego of Doctor Henry Jekyll, the pale man is Mr Rodney Skinner, Gentleman Thief, and the woman is Mrs Wilhelmina Harker, nee Murray," Mycroft replied, before looking at Hartdegen. "I am afraid I am unable to place you, sir." "That's OK, I only just officially joined them. Alexander Hartdegen, American," Hartdegen said, shaking Mycroft's hand. "I'm a time traveller."  
  
"Oh," Mycroft said, as he finished shaking Hartdegen's hand and turned to Sawyer. "Well, I suppose I should get down to the reason why I'm here. The Government has been monitoring your activities for some while now, and we are interested in employing you all as an official League."  
  
"Really? Well, no offence on the Government, but I prefer us being a slightly rouge element," Sawyer said looking back at the other four. "You guys?"  
  
The other four members nodded, and Sawyer looked back at Mycroft. "We're not against full-time employment, we just prefer doing things our own way. But I do have a compromise for you."  
  
"Which is?" Mycroft asked.  
  
Sawyer reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, hand held radio. Hartdegen recognised it as one he'd seen in the year 2030, but he couldn't understand how Sawyer had it in his pocket.  
  
"This will provide a direct line to us from wherever we are in the world to wherever you are," Sawyer explained as he placed it in Mycroft's hand. "We won't be an official branch of yours, but you'll be able to got our help when it's needed. Alright with you?"  
  
Mycroft stared at the radio with a slightly startled expression on his face. But eventually he sighed and pocketed it.  
  
"Very well," he said, as he began to walk back into London. However, as he left, he turned back to the League and nodded. "Good luck, LXG. May all your missions be successful- and may you never know another loss." Then he vanished into the crowd.  
  
Looking around, Hartdegen saw that at least the rest of the League had no idea as to how Sawyer had acquired that radio. Well, Mina seemed to have an idea, but she wasn't telling.  
  
As soon as they were in the Nautilus, Sawyer turned around and looked at the others. "I guess I owe you an explanation about the radio, huh?" he said, smiling.  
  
"Well... yes, actually," Skinner replied. "I mean, it looked like nothing I'd seen before, and what was it doing in your pocket anyway?"  
  
"Simple," Sawyer said. "When I woke up this morning and was getting my coat on," (He wisely avoided mentioning that the two had not happened one after the other) "I found it in my pocket with a note from Hartdegen."  
  
"What?" Hartdegen said, puzzled. "I never gave you anything last night."  
  
"You will," Sawyer explained, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small note. "According to this, in approximately ten minutes you'll nip into the future, acquire four radios like the one I just gave Mycroft, nip back to last night, put them and this note in my pocket, and then came back to the present."  
  
"Makes...sense, I suppose," Hartdegen said, before another thought occurred to him. "Four? Who are the other two for?"  
  
"Until further notice, I guess we'll be giving them to the American and Indian governments. After all, we do have connection to them," Sawyer said, looking over at Nemo. "Shall we?"  
  
"As soon as the Morlocks have been disposed of," Nemo said, indicating the mass of monkey-like carcasses on Hyde.  
  
"And can we get on with dropping these off?" Hyde asked, grunting slightly. "I don't think the serum's going to last much longer."  
  
"OK, chill out Edward," Skinner said, grinning through his paint. "Let's roll, huh?"  
  
With that, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen headed deeper into the Nautilus, getting ready to depart from the bustling landscape that was London. The Morlocks were gone for good, they had a new member, and they were about to become even more official than before.  
  
A lot can change in a day, Sawyer thought to himself as he briefly kissed Mina on the cheek. Wonder what next week will bring...? 


End file.
